Case Study Description of Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability
In 2014, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Calvert Investments (Calvert) found herself at a crossroads. Under her stewardship, Calvert had become one of the world's leading investment management firms, specialized in using sustainability as a platform to create value for investors. After having been recruited to the position from Wall Street, the CEO had enthusiastically embraced and encouraged Calvert's unique positioning for 17 years. The idea of environmental, social, and governance sustainability had not only defined Calvert's niche in investments, but had come to describe the CEO's personal leadership style and shaped how she ran the company. However, with many apparent challenges to the environmental, social, and governance community and the broader investor community, the CEO wondered if the old way of doing sustainable and socially responsible investing was sufficient to support the changes that she felt were needed. Chantal van Esch is affiliated with Case Western Reserve University - Fowler Center. Chris Laszlo is affiliated with Case Western Reserve University - Fowler Center. Katherine Gullett is affiliated with Case Western Reserve University.
Authors :: Chantal van Esch, Chris Laszlo, Katherine Gullett, Benjamin Cooper
Swot Analysis of "Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability" written by Chantal van Esch, Chris Laszlo, Katherine Gullett, Benjamin Cooper includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Calvert Calvert's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Gender, Leadership, Strategy, Sustainability and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Calvert Calvert's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Calvert Calvert's operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Calvert Calvert's
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Calvert Calvert's
Strengths Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Calvert Calvert's in Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Calvert Calvert's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Calvert Calvert's in the sector have low bargaining power. Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Calvert Calvert's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Calvert Calvert's is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Calvert Calvert's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Calvert Calvert's has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Calvert Calvert's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Calvert Calvert's has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Calvert Calvert's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Calvert Calvert's has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Analytics focus
– Calvert Calvert's is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Chantal van Esch, Chris Laszlo, Katherine Gullett, Benjamin Cooper can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Calvert Calvert's has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Calvert Calvert's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Calvert Calvert's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Calvert Calvert's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Calvert Calvert's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability, in the dynamic environment Calvert Calvert's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Calvert Calvert's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Calvert Calvert's has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Calvert Calvert's even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Calvert Calvert's, firm in the HBR case study Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Calvert Calvert's has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Calvert Calvert's needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Calvert Calvert's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Calvert Calvert's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Calvert Calvert's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Calvert Calvert's has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Chantal van Esch, Chris Laszlo, Katherine Gullett, Benjamin Cooper suggests that, Calvert Calvert's is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Calvert Calvert's 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Calvert Calvert's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Calvert Calvert's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability are -
Manufacturing automation
– Calvert Calvert's can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Calvert Calvert's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Calvert Calvert's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Calvert Calvert's in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Calvert Calvert's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Calvert Calvert's has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Calvert Calvert's to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Calvert Calvert's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Calvert Calvert's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Calvert Calvert's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Calvert Calvert's can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Calvert Calvert's to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Calvert Calvert's in the consumer business. Now Calvert Calvert's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Calvert Calvert's can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Leadership & Managing People segment.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Calvert Calvert's can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Calvert Calvert's can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability .
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Calvert Calvert's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Calvert Calvert's
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Calvert Calvert's.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability, Calvert Calvert's may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Calvert Calvert's can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Calvert Calvert's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Calvert Calvert's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Calvert Calvert's needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Calvert Calvert's in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Calvert Calvert's high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Regulatory challenges
– Calvert Calvert's needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Calvert Calvert's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Calvert Investments: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Calvert Calvert's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
